


The Right Thing to Do

by Welfycat



Series: Stargate High School [5]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-26
Updated: 2010-12-26
Packaged: 2017-10-14 03:23:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/144811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welfycat/pseuds/Welfycat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The 'thing' Rodney had with Katie Brown had gone on for a long time, but it was past time for it to end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Right Thing to Do

**Author's Note:**

> Written for High School Bingo; Prompt: Break Up

Rodney sighed as he slipped into the Home Ec class room, relieved to be out of danger for at least the next forty-five minutes. None of Todd’s cronies were in this class, probably couldn’t stand to be caught taking something as ‘girly’ as Home Ec. The only reason Rodney was in the class at all was because he needed to fulfill a ‘Life Skills’ graduation requirement. Well, and because when they were signing up for classes last spring Katie Brown, his kinda-girlfriend, had asked him to take the class with her. And because it would probably be much less painful than sitting through an accounting, basic mechanics and repair, or a child rearing class. He refused to take accounting or basic mechanics because it would be such a waste of his time that it was painful to even think about; child rearing was painful to think about for entirely different reasons.

"Rodney, are you alright?" Katie asked, standing next to him and looking a little worried.

Blinking, Rodney realized that he'd been standing still and staring at the doorway, waiting for something bad to happen. He'd walked Radek to his next class after gym, an English class that was only a hallway away, and then dashed down to his own class. Rodney hadn't realized how much they'd come to rely on John over the past month, and now that John was still suspended for another day Rodney found that he couldn't stop thinking about him.

"I'm fine," Rodney mumbled and let Katie guide him over to a table, where Jennifer Keller and her boyfriend Ronon were already sitting. Since John had left, Ronon Dex, a sophomore who had transferred in at the beginning of the year, had started hanging out near Rodney and Radek and following them around. When Rodney had turned and confronted him, Ronon had just said that Sheppard had told him to look out for them while he was gone.

Of course, it had taken Rodney a minute to connect 'Sheppard' to John, but after that Rodney and Radek were grateful for the escort. Todd's little gang had taken the opportunity in John's absence to step up their little terror campaign, and Rodney was starting to notice that Todd's group wasn't so little anymore. But, since John had been gone, Rodney and Radek had rarely walked through the halls by himself, Teyla or Ronon almost always at their sides like bodyguards. It was kind of nice, but Rodney still wanted John back in school.

"Heads up," Cam called.

All the students that had been milling around the classroom dropped down into chairs or leaned up against the walls so that Cam had the floor. On the first day, Cam had come into the classroom, wrote 'Mr. Mitchell' in big letters on the board, crossed it out and said: "Mr. Mitchell is my father. You can all call me Cam." Rodney found that the Home Ec teacher being the track coach and a math teacher as well did a lot for making the class more tolerable.

"You have two more class periods to finish your hot pads. By now you should have finished up on the sewing machines and be working on closing the edges by hand. Remember to try and keep the stitches even in size and in spacing. If it helps, pretend that you are sewing someone together," Cam said, looking over his students.

"That totally doesn't help," Amelia said from the counter where she was perched.

Several students laughed and Cam just smiled. "Let's get to it," he said, flipping the radio on.

Another reason that Home Ec was more popular than the other Life Skills classes was because Cam was a pretty laid back teacher. As long as everyone did their work and the noise level was kept to a dull roar, he didn't care where they sat or who they worked with.

"I'll go get our projects," Katie said, getting up from her seat. Jennifer followed her, leaving Ronon and Rodney behind at the table.

Rodney smiled at Ronon a little uncertainly. He hadn't even realized Ronon was in Home Ec with him until he had followed him in the classroom the day after John had been suspended and sat down across from Rodney, Jennifer joining them without any indication that she thought the situation was at all bizarre.

Jennifer and Katie showed back up with all of their oven mitts and they sat down and got to work without too much distraction.

Rodney had found that he was actually pretty good with the sewing machines, which were just like operating almost any other piece of particularly finicky equipment. Sewing by hand though, he was discovering, was another matter. He was good, really good, at working with tiny bits of wire and soldering and fixing just about anything electronic, but controlling a needle and thread as he wove it in and out of a simple piece of fabric seemed to be a different skill set. His stitches varied in size and he'd had to go back in a few places where he hadn't closed a seam properly. His hot pad looked more like a creation of Dr. Frankenstein than anything that he'd seen in the kitchen at his house.

Both Katie's and Jennifer's hot pads were quite impressive, as far as hot pads go; Katie's in a simple floral pattern, her stitches mostly tidy, and Jennifer's in a tasteful aqua, her stitches meticulously neat. Ronon's hot pad, to Rodney's unending surprise, was actually a whole lot better than Rodney's own. The stitching wasn't as clean as the girls, but it had a functionally rugged look to it. He had no idea how Ronon managed to work his huge hands with such dexterity.

Rodney forced his attention back to his hot pad, working on closing up the third side. He'd been avoiding Katie for a while now, only talking to her in Home Ec, and they hadn't seen each other more than two or three times over the summer. The double date fiasco with Carson and Laura that had started his relationship with Katie seemed to be a good indicator of how the entire relationship had gone. Rodney never really knew what to say, or how to act, and he was sure that he wasn't doing things that Katie wanted him to. And, the real kicker of the situation was that Rodney liked Katie, he really did.

Katie looked up from her hot pad and smiled at Rodney when she saw him watching her.

He smiled back, panicking a little on the inside. A little over an hour after Kolya had attacked him and lured John to getting hurt and in trouble, basically as soon as Rodney knew that John was just suspended and not expelled, Rodney had realized that he had to do something, something he probably should have done a long time ago. Even though he liked Katie, really really liked her, he had been doing her a disservice by staying in this pseudo relationship with her. He didn't think they would ever be able to move past the awkwardness, and now that Kolya had proved that he was willing to use friendships and relationships to his own ends, it just wasn't safe for him to keep seeing her.

Being concerned about Katie's safety from Kolya and Todd felt like a lame excuse, and if Rodney was being honest with himself, it was. But, what it came down to was that Rodney hadn't felt that their tentative relationship was working and it was past time to end it. He deserved that honesty, and so did Katie.

Having John suddenly in the picture was also a bit of a catalyst for finally ending things with Katie. Rodney admitted to being bisexual, although usually only to himself, and couldn't quite tell whether he found John attractive or if it was just a small touch of hero worship. Which wasn't entirely true; John was attractive, there was no denying it. But Rodney hadn't seen any indication that John was interested in him, other than John leaping in and getting his ass kicked in Rodney's place. Rodney gingerly touched where his arm now had a livid bruise, thanks to Kolya. But, Rodney knew that John would step in for just about anyone, that it was nothing personal. It's just how John was.

When Rodney looked up again, finding that having his mind occupied had led to a side of his hot pad with even messier stitching than before, he discovered that class was about over and everyone was starting to clean up. He slipped his needle back in the edge of the fabric and reached over for Katie's hot pad. She smiled again and Rodney felt even more guilty. It had to be today, he couldn't put it off another weekend.

Rodney put their hot pads in the storage area where they kept works in progress and walked back over to the table as the bell rang.

"Katie, wait. Can I talk to you, outside class? Just for a moment?" Rodney asked, rubbing his sweating hands against his pants.

Katie smiled again and nodded.

Feeling like a complete jerk, Rodney shouldered his backpack and walked out of the classroom with Katie at his side. When they reached a little alcove of lockers, away from the main traffic, Rodney sighed and mentally rehearsed one more time what he was going to say. When he looked up, he found that Ronon had followed them and was watching from the corner. Rodney gave him a look that was supposed to mean 'go away', but Ronon merely leaned against the wall and turned so that he wasn't watching them.

"Katie," Rodney started, taking a deep breath.

Katie looked a little worried and leaned in. "What's wrong, Rodney?"

Rodney swallowed, discovering that all the rational explanations that he'd been forming in his mind were suddenly gone, leaving him without the words that had just been there a moment ago. "It's not that I don't like you, because I do," he began helplessly.

Katie waited for a full minute before responding. "What are you trying to say?"

From the tone of her voice, it was pretty clear that she knew where he was heading, so Rodney just blurted it out. "We need to break up."

Her eyes watered a little but she didn't say anything.

Rodney sighed again and he shifted uncomfortably. "I'm sorry."

She nodded quickly. "I should go."

"Me too," Rodney agreed, suddenly very anxious to get out of there as soon as possible.

Katie turned around and hurried away, bringing one hand up to wipe at her eyes as she rounded the corner.

Rodney swallowed hard again, feeling terrible but not knowing what else he could have done. He started walking down the hall towards his locker where he was supposed to meet Radek and wasn't surprised to find Ronon at his side.

"You did the right thing," Ronon said without preamble.

Rodney didn't reply. He knew it was the right thing to have done, but that didn't mean that he felt any better about it.

On Monday morning when he walked into Home Ec, still relieved and happy that John was finally back at school with them, he was shocked at how much it hurt to discover that Katie had transferred out of the class.


End file.
